Love Is Limitation: Disillusionment & Obligation In Troubled Times / Stephen Jenkinson

Stephen Jenkinson, author of Die Wise and Come of Age, returns to the podcast to discuss what he and musical collaborator Gregory Hoskins have been up to since their Nights of Grief and Mystery global tour was cancelled when coronavirus lockdowns began last year. Released in November, they put together two albums, DARK ROAD and ROUGH GODS.

In the idleness that’s been forced upon us we’ve made two records. I learned this: music is human scaled miracle.

They call it fishing, not catching. That’s because, though there may be fish galore in the places you can’t see, none of them are in the world to satisfy your hook, and mostly they don’t come. I don’t really know where these records came from, but I know they came to two men willing to sit quietly for hours upon days, keeping their faithless wits about them, paying attention, paying for it. We’ve been often quizzed at the border: what do you do? what kind of music? what’s with the Grief and Mystery thing? Palms up, shrugging: that’s an honest answer.” (http://bit.ly/DarkRoadsRoughGods)

In discussing this subject, we move into a conversation about love, or how we commonly understand love to be, versus what love really is and is practiced, and what it asks of us in the time allotted to us on this earth. Intersecting with Stephen's work in the "death trade" and his interrogation of the death-phobic culture of the United States and Canada, he frames our exploration of love within the deeper understanding of how limits make us human.

Video Segment:

Bio:

Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW is an activist, teacher, author, and farmer. He is the founder of the Orphan Wisdom School in Tramore, Canada and the author of four books, including Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, the award-winning book about grief and dying, and the great love of life, and Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. In 2015, he created Nights of Grief & Mystery with Canadian singer-songwriter Gregory Hoskins. With a 5-piece band, they have mounted international tours and released three albums, most recently DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS. Most recently, a four-part livestream speaking series, STONE FENCE SAGAS, were presented in Fall 2020.

Episode Notes:

Learn more about and purchase DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS

Learn more about Stephen’s work

The songs featured are “Invocation” and “Bittersweet” from ROUGH GODS.

To contact Hannah Dwyer about her Friend Farm invitation, you can email her or DM on Instagram 

Read her article Magic Can Create a Decolonial Future at Gods&Radicals Press